Praestigiae
by Alyssa-Naberrie
Summary: Set after 'Lost Boys' Teyla and John have been seperated from the rest, what will happen to them?
1. Chapter 1

Title: Praestigiae

Author: Celede

Date: 25 October 2005

Part: 1?

Rating: PG-13 (M overall)

Characters: Mostly John and Teyla but the rest of the team may be heard from

Spoilers: Set after 'Lost Boys' so everything up to then is fair game

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters are copyright of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.,

I am in no way profiting from this and no infringement is intended.

Notes: Thankyou to my uber wonderful beta Sel!

Summary: Set after 'Lost Boys' Teyla and John have been seperated from the rest, what will happen to them?

------

Lt. Colonel John Sheppard was pretty sure he knew his head was throbbing before he was completely conscious. He could feel something soft beneath his face before he opened his eyes and was grateful he wasn't face first on the freezing cold floor of the Wraith hive ship.

'Thank god for small mercies,' he thought as he tried to open his eyes. Though the light was soft, it stung his eyes and he groaned as he snapped them shut again.

"Colonel Sheppard?" He knew that worried voice.

"Teyla?" He replied carefully. He forced himself to open his eyes, groaning as the pain hit him, to see if she was really there.

She was.

"Are you okay? That is a stupid question, forgive me," she said.

John noticed that her voice was forced and that she was scrunched up on the end of what he presumed was the bed within his holding cell.

"Teyla, what are you doing here? Where is everyone else?" John questioned, watching her carefully.

"I believe they discovered..." John sat straight up as Teyla began convulsing uncontrollably.

"Teyla!" John moved towards her as fast as he could.

"I am ... fine ... Colonel... they only... last a few... minutes," Teyla gasped out.

Teyla's convulsions subsided and John watched her as she sat up and looked into his eyes.

"It's the enzyme, isn't it? You're having withdrawals," John asked concerned.

"Yes, I have come to believe so, but they are not as severe now and I am bearing them well," Teyla replied.

Once John was satisfied that, apart from the obvious of being trapped in a holding cell aboard a Wraith dart, Teyla was okay he asked again where the others were.

"I do not know, Colonel. A short time after you had been taken away, the Wraith came back and brought me to this holding cell. They brought you here only a few hours. We have been here ever since. I am unaware where the others are," Teyla recounted.

"Why did they separate us?" John wondered out loud.

"I believe they discovered I was the one who had been connecting to the Wraith, I am not sure how they discovered this though," Teyla replied.

"You're taking this all very well, Teyla... Wait, what do you mean 'We've been here ever since'?" It wasn't until now that John noticed Teyla's hair seemed was longer than he remembered it. He put his hands up to his face and discovered he had a somewhat of a beard.

"Colonel, we have been here for well over a month at my estimations. You have been barely conscious or taken away by the Wraith most of the time."

"I think the situation allows for you to use my name, Teyla," John said, dryly. "How are we still alive, anyway?"

John was frustrated by the fact that Teyla had been suffering for at least a month and he hadn't had the capacity to do anything about it. He felt useless knowing that his people were somewhere aboard the ship and yet he couldn't get to them, help them, save them.

"I do not know why they have not yet fed upon us, they give us enough food and water to survive each day."

John noticed that tears were beginning to form in Teyla's eyes, so he pulled her towards him and wrapped his arms around her.

"Teyla, I promise I'm going to get us out of this... somehow."

"It is not that, John, I have never felt so useless in my entire life. We are stuck here, without any knowledge of the others or how we are going to escape the Wraith and there is not one thing I can do to change that. It is a horrible feeling," Teyla said softly.

"I know how you feel," John said as he tightened his hold on her.

------


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Praestigiae

Author: Celede

Date: 26 November 2005

Part: 2?

Rating: PG-13 (M overall)

Characters: Mostly John and Teyla but the rest of the team may be heard from

Spoilers: Set after 'Lost Boys' so everything up to then is fair game

Disclaimer: Stargate Atlantis and its characters are copyright of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc.,

I am in no way profiting from this and no infringement is intended.

Notes: Thankyou to my uber wonderful betas Sel and Val!

Summary: Set after 'Lost Boys' Teyla and John have been seperated from the rest, what will happen to them?

------

Teyla Emmagan knew that there was something soft and warm beneath her head before she opened her eyes. In the few moments before complete conciousness took over, Teyla allowed herself to imagine that she was waking up in her bed on Atlantis.

But as her eyes adjusted to the dim light of their holding cell, Teyla's dream world faded to reality. Her soft, warm pillow was in fact John's arm.

Teyla sat upright as she heard footsteps coming towards their cell. A Wraith pushed a tray of food and water through the bars. John, seeing this, replied "Thanks Andy," got up out of the bed, walked over to the rations and brought them back to her on the bed.

This had been their routine for a good deal of time. Teyla wasn't sure but she thought it to be something of two months.

John had noticed the look on Teyla's face. He knew what that look meant, she was troubled by something, other than the obvious.

John offered her the water bottle, just as he did every day - or night - they weren't sure anymore.

"Why have they not fed upon us John?" Teyla turned to him, taking the water bottle, "what do they want with us? I do not understand!"

"I don't know what to tell you, Teyla. I don't know what's going on inside their heads," John replied, calmly.

Teyla didn't get upset like this very often, but he knew how to calm her down. He set the tray down and put his arms around her.

'"In my garden, the carrots are just about ready to be pulled out of the ground. They are perfect carrots that you make into a perfect side dish to go with our roast lamb on Sundays."

John felt Teyla relax against him, as he spoke. They had taken to creating this little dream world together to pass the time and stave off insanity. John had noticed that it also had a very soothing influence on Teyla, first when she was experiencing withdrawal from the enzyme and now when she took too thinking to much about things.

Teyla looked up at John and smiled gratefully. "I would cook them until they are just tender with honey."

John licked his lips in reply.

As they settled down, facing each other to eat their food, John looked over at Teyla.

"Do you think," he started carefully "that you might be able to tell me more about our first month here yet?"

Teyla looked up in surprise, she had told John a while ago she was not ready to talk of it and he had not asked her about it since. Teyla looked straight into John's eyes and saw they filled with concern. She knew it would do her some good to say it all aloud but that did not make it any easier.

"Yes," she replied slowly. With this, John scooted around to the other side of the bed and settled down next to her in case he needed to give her any assistance.

"When the Wraith first brought us here, I took every opportunity to lash out against them. Every time they brought you back to the cell I would try to fight back against them, but since this never got me any further than hit across the face, I decided that my time would be better spent looking after you when you were in this cell so that perhaps you could recover and we might have a better chance of escaping together," Teyla took a deep breath and John took the opportunity to ask her about what he really wanted to know more about.

Teyla sighed and took her time to answer, getting all her thoughts together before she began.

"The first week was the worst week of my entire life... my skin crawled and my need for the enzyme increased with each passing day. I was not sure if I was going to survive or not. In that first week you, too, were also in pretty bad shape and I used you to help me survive. I told myself that I would not give in to it because I had decided that you needed me to be strong for you and look after you when you were not capable of doing it yourself. So I learned to ride out the fits, I smashed around the cell a bit when I had to, and when you came back to the cell everyday I nursed you and fed you. You were not totally conscious and yet you were not totally unconscious and this allowed me to give you water and every now and then food."

By the time Teyla finished her story, she was rocking back and forth and John had his arms around her. Despite her current state, Teyla marveled at how John seemed to possess the talent of making her feel safe and happy simply by holding her and whispering comforting things in her ear, or talking about their dream world filled of carrots and other seemingly inconsequential things.

------

"Dr McKay, two and a half months aboard a Wraith hive ship. They are most certainly dead," Caldwell said, his voice just below shouting.

Rodney looked to Elizabeth for support, but found she could not meet his eyes.

"With all due respect Colonel," Rodney's voice dripped with sarcasm, "but those two people are my friends! I'm sorry if I'm not able to give up on them as easily as some."

With another glance in Elizabeth's direction, to only see the top of her head, Rodney strode from the room and was ambushed by Ronon and Aiden at the bottom of the stairs.

"So do we have gate clearance?" Aiden asked anxiously.

Rodney took his time to answer, walking away from any prying ears.

"The search has been called off," he tried to say evenly.

Rodney was sure somebody, not him he hoped, was going to get hurt pretty badly from the look of anger in both men's eyes. Aiden punched the wall and Ronon let out a primal yell. They both stalked off leaving Rodney to contemplate what things would be like on Atlantis without fly boy Sheppard and beautiful, serene Teyla.


End file.
